THE VULTURES. 
173 
Vultures can perceive the existence of carrion at a 
very great distance. Some authors have supposed 
that it was owing , to the sense of smell being very 
acute ; but it appears to be by no means certain that 
the olfactory nerve, which in mammalia is the organ 
of smell, does in birds perform that function. The 
Vultures, as well as many other birds, possess an 
of a contest between a strong English miner from Cornwall 
and one of these gormandizers after a full meal : 
“ The man, when riding along the plains, saw several 
Condors, and guessing that they were attracted by the body 
of some dead animal, rode up, and found a numerous flock 
around the carcase of a horse. One of the largest was 
standing with one foot on the ground, and the other in the 
horse’s body, exhibiting a singular force of muscular power, 
as he lifted the flesh and tore off great pieces, sometimes 
shaking his head and pulling with his beak, or sometimes 
pushing with his leg. As the man approached, one of them, 
which appeared to be gorged, rose up, and flew about fifty 
yards off, when it alighted, and he rode up to it, and then 
jumping down, seized the bird by the neck. The contest 
was severe, and never probably was such a battle seen be- 
fore, as a Cornish miner and a Condor. The man declared 
he never had had such a trial of strength in his life, that 
he put his knee upon the bird’s breast, and tried with all 
his might to twist his neck, but that the Condor, objecting 
to this, struggled most violently, and he fully expected that 
several other birds, which were flying over him, would take 
part against him, and assist their companion. At length, 
however, the man succeeded, as he supposed, and carrying 
off the pinion quills in triumph, left the bird for dead. But 
so tenacious are they of life, and so difficult to kill, that 
another horseman, who passed the spot some time after, 
found it still living and struggling.” 
15 * 
